Where does the Bible mention the Johannine community?

Answer 1

A:Scholars have established that there was a 'Johannine community' that split shortly after the fourth gospel was written. The term 'Johannine' refers to the putative author of the Gospel and the three related epistles, John.

The evidence is circumstantial, found in the Johannine epistles. 1 John shows a great deal of bitterness towards those of the community who chose not to come with them in joining the 'centrist' tradition, but instead maintaining and reinforcing their Gnostic traditions. For example, the author wanted to charge his opponents with being sinners (1 John 1:8-10), but since his new soteriology (doctrine of salvation) was about sin and forgiveness, the topic could backfire because he did not want to offer his opponents the promise of forgiveness. This made it necessary to engage in a bit of logical casuistry with regard to sins for which forgiveness was possible rather than those for which it was not (1 John 2:1-2, 3:4-10).

These and other passages would be anachronistic if addressed to Christians at large, butbuild up a picture of a community in schism. This was the 'Johannine' community.As can be seen, they parted ways over orientation to knowledge (gnosis) versus faith.